Lessons from Aamir Khan's latest movie

What is it about some Aamir Khan movies and television productions that touch a collective raw nerve in our country?. They also set us thinking about the real problems we have to overcome for India to truly take her place among the league of developed nations? His ability to reach that place in our consciousness that may have recognised and encountered social problems, either directly or in anecdotal fashion and his uncanny capability to weave an absorbing tale that jerk tears, entertains and educates at the same time is what makes many of Aamir’s productions an unmissable experience!

Aamir’s first memorable movie in this genre was “Taare Zameen Par” which caused many mothers to rush their kids to doctors to see if any of their real or perceived problems were due to dyslexia. Aamir’s ability to take a secondary role and let a young debutant steal most of the time and affection of the audience made for compelling watching. Close on its heels the multiple episodes of television series “Satya Meva Jayate” brought many of our domestic skeletons tumbling out of the cupboard and now he has done it again with “Secret Superstar” a movie about everyday occurrences in many homes through our nation that shakes us to the core, even as it underlines the hard realities around marital violence and brutality towards women that still torments the Indian psyche!

Three points that the movie makes loud and clear bear repetition here. The first is the deliberate acts of violence that some men seem to believe is their right because they have condescended to marry a woman who is unable to make a livelihood for herself. The second is the very partial treatment given to boys in an Indian home and the almost dismissive approach to the female gender. And the third is the denial of the simple right to dream a different dream from what is conventionally ordained as a few years of academics followed by marriage that seems to be the lot drawn by girls in many homes even today!

If nothing else, there should be a selfish reason for men all over the country to embrace the participation of women at home and in society in all activities. Women are still fifty percent of the population and denying them the right to play their rightful role in the marketplace of ideas and revelry in the field of dreams is just eliminating a rich source of new opportunities for humankind! The MeToo hashtag movement has shown that attitudes towards women are reprehensible not just in India but in most developing nations and many parts of the progressive West. It is time for change and men must make the change happen as much as women!

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Ganesh Natarajan is Chairman of Social Venture Partners India and 5F World